Tag Archives: unlawful searches

Whose Dog is That Sniffing Around my House?

Wednesday, 11 January 2012 13:31

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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take a case out of Florida which asks the question:
Does a police dog’s sniff outside a house give officers the right to get a search warrant for illegal drugs, or is the sniff an unconstitutional search?
On the morning of Dec. 5, 2006, Miami-Dade police detectives and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents set up surveillance outside a house south of the city after getting an anonymous tip that it might contain a marijuana grow operation. The cops brought Franky, a K-9 drug dog . The dog quickly detected the odor of pot at the base of the front door and sat down as he was trained to do.
That sniff was used to get a search warrant from a judge. The house was searched and its lone occupant, Joelis Jardines, was arrested for drug possession after trying to escape out the back door. Officers pulled 179 live marijuana plants from the house, with an estimated street value of more than $700,000.
The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids government searches of persons and property without probable cause.
The U.S. Supreme Court has approved drug dog sniffs in several other major cases. Two of those involved

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The above information is intended to help educate members of the Georgia motoring public as to their rights under the law and to assist presumptively innocent citizens in properly asserting those rights. Information within this site should not be misconstrued as legal advice.